Expo to improve China-Mongolia cooperation: Xi

The first China-Mongolia Expo will serve as an important platform to improve economic cooperation and cultural exchange between China and Mongolia, President Xi Jinping said in a letter sent to the expo, which opened on Friday.

The expo will help promote China-Mongolia relations to a higher level, and will also improve cooperation among northeast Asian nations at large, the president said.

China highly values the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, and is ready to integrate China's "Belt and Road" initiative with Mongolia's Steppe Road plan based on mutual respect, benefit, and win-win cooperation, Xi said.

In his congratulatory letter, Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj also lauded the role the expo will play to bilateral pragmatic cooperation and the Mongolia-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong said at the opening ceremony, that recent years have witnessed deepening political mutual trust, closer trade and economic cooperation as well as people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

The biennial event is the biggest exchange program between the two countries in recent years. Delegates from China, Mongolia, Russia and Malaysia attended the expo in Hohhot, capital city of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Endi